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we've definitely done many versions of this. and i guess "they sure needed each other as checks and balances" is basically part of canonical beatles lore at this point. which certainly beats "if only yoko hadn't ruined everything" as far as the sophistication of narratives carried around by the general listening public. but imo the biggest problem with almost all the beatles solo records is, following an initial or nearly-initial burst of "i'm free!" creative greatness, they get lazy. maybe in a totally typical and understandable way: you've been one of the kings of the world for 5-6 years. time to just chill out and do whatever you feel like. hey, it's the Me Decade after all. this plays out in different ways and maybe overlaps a lot with them getting so far up their own success that they can't really be constrained or challenged by any of their collaborators.
macca gets the best results out of this - if you're in the mood for what he does - because he's just more restless musically and wants to try each new toy that comes within earshot. he also generally retains a gift for melody that is able to carry him through all but the dudliest of dudly pointless lyrical conceits and tangents. nothing close to the masterpiece-after-masterpiece production of the beatles, but highly listenable and for a fan (like me and several others here) very very enjoyable. but he also is very clearly surrounding himself with people who don't challenge him, esp. denny laine for a decade's worth of "sure boss, sounds good!" his best records - save early flourish ram - are produced out of weird circumstances, constraints, or collaborators: martin for tug of war, costello for flowers in the dirt, travel woes and tight timelines for band on the run, starting from scratch on the two mccartneys, etc.
with john it's more what y'all have been describing - the songwriting rapidly gets just kinda boring, you don't feel like he's really laboring over these things; indeed you feel like he wears it as a point of pride that he's not. unfortunately the muse strikes infrequently. i honestly think that POB aside you really are okay with the greatest hits for his solo career. it's a great greatest hits! there just aren't that many killer album tracks in that discography. i've listened and tried to find them. the exception of course is pussy cats. whatever its flaws that's not a boring record.
― DOCTOR CAISNO, BYCREATIVELABBUS (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 22:08 (seven years ago) link
McCartney II is, at this stage, the most overrated McCartney solo record. Back To The Egg, though - underrated as fuck, and I quite enjoy the fact that I'm one of a handful of people that consider it one of his finest records.
― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 22:22 (seven years ago) link
back to the egg and mccartney 2 are my favorites (well, along with ram and band on the run and chaos and creation)
― akm, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:18 (seven years ago) link
sad that Gone Troppo is always overlooked when people discuss the best solo Beatles album
― soref, Wednesday, October 12, 2016 2:16 PM (two hours ago)
soref, where were you in 2006? You have officially joined the club that I think previously only comprised myself and Geir.
― timellison, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:57 (seven years ago) link